What Educators Do

Being an educator is one of the most important things anyone can do today. Not because humans need to learn to survive, (because survival instinct comes naturally) but because humans need to correct their past mistakes and influence the future of mankind. Teaching students well is the goal of an educator, and it does not happen often.

Today, educators and legislators are more focused on test scores and grades more than the actual benefit of information and what it could be used for. Educators that focus on grades and test scores are only teaching students that they should do what they are asked to the best of their possibilities, and, if their work isn't good enough, they will not succeed. This is teaching. Teaching well takes information from the subject and challenges the students to think about what they believe or what they aspire to do with the information and then apply it in their own lives outside of school assignments and tests. An educator shouldn't just give a student information and have them regurgitate it later. An educator should challenge a student's thoughts and beliefs about certain information and allow the student to develop their beliefs based on information and questioning. Then the student will not only know the information, but the information actually affects their decisions later on in life. Here is an example: Is the Revolutionary War important? Some argue it is because it was the war that allowed the United States of America to exist. But is that really what we should know about the war? No. It isn't the fact that we won the war, but the ideals behind the reason of the war. We fought for what we wanted, what we desired, what we demanded. The war showed us that humans can band together and fight for their future even if they aren't experienced in war, and outnumbered, and create a country where the people value having a choice of who leads their country and be able to change who leads them. That is what we need to know, and base our political process on that fundamental. But we should not just blindly follow it either, we should question it to every scrutiny. Does the process work, what are the potential problems, what if someone does not relinquish their position, what if our leader dies? It is how we interpret the past and answer them in the present that shapes our future. Not just for politics, but for every subject and topic known and unknown to mankind. Teaching like that is teaching well. Don't focus on grades. Ancient Greece developed many theories and improvements to living, and most of the teaching and educating came from philosophers lecturing and questioning current ideas and theories in public. We have developed from ancient Greece and have modern technology, but we have also grown away from this style of learning. We were able to advance in science, language, and politics from these philosophers lecturing and questioning others in the streets. If we were able to advance then, who says that we cannot advance from it today?